Description
Book SynopsisWhat does it mean to talk about law as theater, to speak about the performance of transactions as mundane as the sale of a pig or as agonizing as receiving compensation for a dead kinsman? In Dark Speech, Robin Chapman Stacey explores such questions by examining the interaction between performance and law in Ireland between the seventh and ninth centuries.
Exposing the inner workings of the Irish legal system, Stacey examines the manner in which publicly enacted words and silences were used to construct legal and political relationships in a society where traditional hierarchies were very much in flux.
Law in early Ireland was a verbal art, grounded as much in aesthetics as in the enforcement of communal norms. In contrast with modern law, no sharp distinction existed between art and politics. Visualizing legal events through the lens of procedure, Stacey helps readers recognize the creative, fluid, and inherently risky nature of these same events.
While many h
Trade Review
"An extremely important, learned, and very thoughtful book that addresses a central issue . . . being hotly debated across the social scientific spectrum, among historians, anthropologists, sociologists, and others: the significance of language and performance in understanding traditional societies generally." * Patrick Geary, University of California, Los Angeles *
"The best history book I have read in a very long time. It is full of important ideas based on impressive research expressed in prose that is not dark but clear and amiable." * Law and History Review *
Table of Contents
Introduction
Chapter One: The Play's the Thing
Chapter Two: Jurists on Stage
Chapter Threee: The Power of the Word
Chapter Four: Voicing Over
Chapter Five: Voices Within the Law
Conclusion: The Dangers of Performance
List of Abbreviations
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Acknowledgments
